Pearl Monroe

One of our local news people posts a lot about his family on Facebook. I've been following Chad since before he and Meredith married, and since then they have added two sweet girls, Carson Parry who is 5 and Pearl Monroe who is 3. He frequently posts cute videos and pictures of his family which I enjoy

.

Well, this morning I looked at Facebook and was shocked to see that little Roe Roe was diagnosed with leukemia last week! Chad posted a very faith-filled message and pictures.


His message begins:

"We all will have storms in life. It’s not “if” but “when” we will have them. This is the storm of this season and we know God has this.

Our beautiful, spunky Pearl Monroe has leukemia. After a few doctor visits for aches and pains she was diagnosed last week and started treatments immediately. 

It’s been a whirlwind the past few days with surgery, medicine and getting use to our new normal. The GOOD NEWS, — this leukemia is highly curable but it’s going to take several years of fighting."

 


Take a look at the rest of his message if you want, but more importantly, please pray for this family if God brings them to your mind. They have strong faith in God, but this is hard for them especially on the little one having to undergo treatment.

Also, the family is expecting a little boy in the spring so I'm sure it's extra-hard on Mama Meredith at this time.

*sniff*

Anxiety Help

Someone shared these on Facebook from a book she was reading.  I liked them, and wanted to keep them somewhere easy to find.

'Cause they say confession is good for the soul

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
   ²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."  

(words from Jesus as recorded in Matthew 6***)



Happy New Year!  Can you believe a dozen years have past since the Y2K hype with folks stockpiling food and water in case something bad happened because the computerized world might not be ready for a 2 as the first digit in the date?  Really, I can't quite believe how fast the years fly by.  I always heard this when I was in school, but, man, back then Chemistry class seemed to drag on forever so I was like "yeah right" when I'd hear an adult say such a thing.  Fast forward all these years, and I'm that adult.  Grrrrreat!

So today I was reflecting and resolving a bit since it is a brand new year.  I decided to go for a walk and I had this brilliant post in mind yet as I sit here hours later, I cannot recall what I wanted to say.

I did want to confess to this bad habit that I have.  See, I often approach holidays with some anticipation of all my family being together.  I enjoy myself, but there is this niggling thought about "who won't be here next year when Easter (or Thanksgiving or Christmas or the new year) comes?" 

And I hate that. I really do.  It's like this little thought bent on destroying my peace and joy. It's worry and fear tormenting me!

I want to live each day enjoying the moments, not worrying about future possibilities or probabilities.  I truly want to rest in knowing God has the future laid out and I can trust Him and rest completely knowing that my life is in His hands.  Yet that side of me that simply won't rest, won't trust, won't just relax and leave it all to God ... *sigh* 

For those of you who don't struggle with this either because it's not your personality trait to worry or you have complete faith in God or for whatever other reason that future happenings trouble you not in the slightest, I both admire and envy you. 

I was resolving today that I would trust God more. That I would dwell on His goodness and faithfulness instead of worrying about what might happen.

I want the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart to be pleasing to God (Psalm 19:14). Last year I was angry and bitter way too much.  God has been speaking mercy and grace to me lately. Christmas morning my pastor spoke on mercy.  My brother gave me a book - not from my wishlist, but one I decided to start reading first from the pile I got for Christmas. It speaks of grace. And God is speaking to me through this book.  The subtitle is "No One is Beyond the Reach of a Loving God" and if you knew the details of my life you'd know how timely this message is for me.  Today I was reading the pages about the Prodigal Son and was reminded anew why I adore this parable from Jesus.

Books I got for Christmas

 

OK, enough from me. How was your New Year's Eve and first day of 2012?  I was with my family last night. We met at my brother's house and some watched movies while others of us played Apples to Apples and Scattergories.  We were laughing like crazy. Who says alcohol is required for fun?  We did just fine with our silly games!  :)

Do you have any resolutions for this year?  Any words of wisdom? Anything at all that you want to share? Feel free ... the floor is yours. 



*** Does it tell you anything about me that this passage was one I read often as a teen?

August, Syria, Ramadan, Somalia, Zach, Juan, World Travel, Fear

First off...happy August!  I really cannot believe it's the eighth month of the year and Christmas will be here before we know it!   While growing up, I recall people talking about life going so fast once you were out of high school. At the time, I was stuck in chemistry and physics classes that crawled by so I didn't believe them. But, boy, do I now!

The tenth of this month marks two and a half years since our last day in Damascus. My heart has been aching over what the government continues to do there.  The day before Ramadan, they decided to be even more cruel if you can believe it. I cannot even imagine that Syria is the same place I traveled to and loved. Which, in a way, it isn't.  The people then feared their government and all was calm.  Today, while they may still have this fear, many have chosen to speak out in spite of it.  With hopes for a better, freer future.  I admire their courage.



Secondly, I hope my friends observing Ramadan have a beneficial month as you reflect on God and what He has blessed you with yet others in the world lack.   Some of them your brothers and sisters in faith. Like Somalia.  Ugh, again heartache seeing those starving people on television and Wafa's blog posts.  Heartbreaking.



Thirdly, today is the third and Zach is three months old!  My dad reminded me that his grandfather would have been 111 years old today as he was born August 3, 1900. 



Fourthly, my brother in law's brother has been visiting the area for the last few days.  Juan is from Venezuela and it's his first trip to the USA. He doesn't speak much English, but thankfully Will is great at both languages and can translate.  Really, smiles and hugs don't need any translating and Juan is a fun-loving, pleasant, loving 18 year old.  I've enjoyed seeing him while he's been in North Carolina. Will hasn't seen his little brother since Juan was about 8....younger than Michael!  Can you imagine? Of course he's talked to his family and seen Juan via Skype, but still. It's so cute seeing Juan and Will together. They have similar facial expressions and even walk the same! 



Lastly, I have two questions for you.

1.   I just finished a book about a family who took a year to travel around the world. They visited about 40 cities concentrating on southern Europe, South Africa, India, Cambodia, Laos and Australia.  They avoided South America, the Middle East (except for Turkey), most of northern Europe, Russia and most of the USA since they are from California.  I was curious if you could take off for a trip around the world for a year, what are the places you would most definitely want to visit?



2.  I keep seeing how much fear drives the news. I've been hanging out at my parents' house recently and while feeding my baby nephew, I'll sometimes watch CNN to see what's happening in the world. For days last week, you would have thought the world was coming to an end if Congress failed to extend the debt ceiling.  As if the USA keeps the world going and if we defaulted, life as we know it would come to and end, aliens would invade and we'd all be their slaves. (I think Amber's post influenced that last bit..sorry.)

I've read articles about the Norway terrorist and see how often fear drives people to do evil things. They fear Muslims. They fear immigrants. They fear the end of civilization as we know it.  They fear the extinction of white people. Why so much fear?

That got me to wondering what YOU fear. Do you fear the same things? If so, why?  I think we all have our own personal fears so who is brave enough to share some of them?  And how do you deal with your fear?  Do you feed it by listening to even more doomsday news stories (or preachers!) or do you handle it by denial - what exactly?  What are your fear-busting remedies?   Any recommendations?

Or maybe you think it's a good thing to fear because it keeps up from getting too complacent?  What are your thoughts on fear? Healthy? Good in moderation? 

Do share...unless you are too scared!  ;-)

Grrrrrr!! Why are we so angry?!?!

So today I was glancing at the Yahoo headlines and this article Poll finds Americans angry about pretty much everything caught my attention.  We are angry at Obama for not doing enough! We are angry at the congressional Republicans for not doing enough!  Dadburnit, we must be angry at God because He only has a 33% approval rate according to the poll! 

"The poll finds that Americans are being affected by their anger in other parts of life as well. Fifty-six percent are so angry that they can’t even sleep and 13 percent say the anxiety has affected their sex life. Twenty-six percent of married respondents claim the country’s economic problems have affected their marriage, with more than half of those people saying it has made their marriage worse."

In Journey Into America, anthropologist Akbar Ahmed talks about Americans living at such a fast pace and being so "connected" to electronics and social media and "drowning in information" that they don't take much time for self-reflection, for silence.  He claims "people have lost the capacity for self-reflection and find it difficult to see the majesty and mystery of life." 

Take time to enjoy the many pleasures God gives us every day

He describes today as "cynical, noisy, iconoclastic, and [a] materialistic world of consumerism" where even "heroes and role models provide little more than temporary entertainment." Often politicians, performers and sportsmen end up "as fodder for everyone's entertainment" when they fall from grace.

"It is perhaps an awareness of this predicament at various levels that makes Americans, in spite of consuming a disproportionately large share of the world's wealth, among the unhappiest people on earth while obsessively insisting they are happy.  Americans have much to be unhappy about: the incidences of suicide and depression are abnormally high, especially among their students and soldiers; their jails are the fullest compared with those of any other nation, their rates of obesity the highest, their marriages more in danger of breaking up, and more Americans claim to have been abducted by aliens than any other nationality. A foreigner may be forgiven for assuming Americans perpetually oscillate between two primary emotions, those of anger and fear, all the while proclaiming that their country is the greatest and best in history."  (pg. 461)

In another part of the book, the team had met with Noam Chomsky. I'll quote him in regard to the American fear factor.

"For Chomsky, it is not the idea of freedom and democracy that lies at the heart of America, but fear. A sense of fear and threat permeates every aspect of society, he explained to us: 'It's a very frightened country. Unusually so, by international standards, which is kind of ironic because [we're] at a level of security that nobody's ever dreamed of in world history....The theme is we're about to be destroyed by an enemy, and at the last minute, a super weapon is discovered or a hero arises, Rambo or someone, and somehow saves us. The Terminator or high school boys hiding in the mountains defending us from the Russians.'" (pg. 379)

Have you ever stopped to wonder why a nation that supposedly has a majority of Christians is so angry and so fearful? My pastor reminds us regularly that the Bible tells us "do not fear" over three hundred times.  Enough for nearly every day of the year. So why are we afraid? Why do we fear? Why do we let anxiety and fear and anger rule our lives?

"He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul."

How about we meditate on this instead?  Seriously. Isn't this great stuff?

 ⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
 ⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.  (Phil. 4)

Darwin or Jesus: Who Influences Americans More?

In chapter 1 of Journey Into America, Akbar Ahmed speaks of the way Charles Darwin's "survival of the fittest" has influenced American life.  Recalling to mind that it's not the most intelligent or strongest who survive, but the one who is adaptable to change, he reminds us "those who succeed in the competition to survive are said to be the 'favored races.' ... [and] if the favored races are defined by a certain religion, language, and culture these will be imitated, preserved, and passed on. 

Because in America the English - and later by extension the white race - emerged on top in the competition, their characteristics have become the standard. ... In time, all others- African Americans, Mexicans, Native Americans, and Asians - were forced to imitate the dominant ethos if they wished to succeed."  He uses President Obama as an example. Despite his "dark skin" and "Muslim father from Africa," he has for the most part sounded and behaved like "other politicians from the dominant white race."

"A DEBILITATING TENSION BETWEEN DARWIN AND JESUS"

Mr. Ahmed says this tension lies at the heart of what defines and motivates American identity. Since Darwinian thought and Jesus' teachings are "diametrically opposed," they "cannot coexist simultaneously in one society without causing severe friction."

Think about it.  And think about Native Americans and other groups as you compare the two.

Darwin "represents adaptability and survival" and "acknowledges that those who cannot adapt will not - indeed must not - survive."   It's a struggle to survive and "the ruthless will to succeed, strength, speed, stamina, and force determine success. In turn, success generates pride and arrogance, the chauvinism of being on top, and a belief in the superiority of the dominant group."

Jesus' teaching of compassion and love for neighbors and enemies should motivate true followers to reach out to all people especially the "least privileged members in society" who often need the most help. Think of the people Jesus came to serve: basically all types!  Tax collectors, women, soldiers, fishermen, prostitutes, religious men like Nicodemus, ordinary people, children!  Even nonJewish people were not excluded from his help!

Yet why do we - who sometimes insist we are a "Christian nation" - act more like we follow Darwin with all the pride and hurtfulness that purifying the world of all the "bad races" involves instead of Jesus? I always thought the "Christ" part of "Christian" referred to the Messiah celebrated in the New Testament.  So why the Darwinian outlook in keeping the land pure for white people- Christian white people - Protestant white people?

We purified the land so let's keep it that way, right?!

Ahmed observes: "I have always found American fear and anger surprising.Why should the most powerful people on earth be fearful?  And why should the richest people be angry? If there was more true Christianity and less Darwinian thinking, I am convinced, there would be far more calmness in American social life."

I read this and noted "pg. 26 AMEN!" on my notepad!  Exactly!  Why are we going around fearful and angry? Why do we not live as people of faith and actually do what Jesus did and stop being so afraid and suspicious of everyone?

Anger and fear are not good foreign policy motivators!



"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."  ~ Jesus Christ (John 14:27)


TO BE CONTINUED ...


quotes from pgs. 24-26

Should I Encourage Revolution?

Ever have a conflict of whether you are right to encourage people to fight for their political freedoms?  I'm not speaking of people in America, but in a country where your President (for life) and the military are so entwined and most of the people weaponless so that any conflict will be vastly unfair.

I don't want to say "don't fight...you might be killed!" when they want change yet are frightened of the brutal response of the regime and its supporters.  I'm done with fear being the reason for doing or not doing anything.  Fear holds me back too often and I want to throw off that chain whenever it reaches out to hold me down.

On the other hand, should I encourage them?  I am pretty good at giving pep talks, urging people to remember God, not to fear and all that stuff.

But should I?  I realize I am thousands of miles away and don't have to deal with seeing my friends beaten, arrested and shot at. It's easy to be a cheerleader when you don't have to get in the game ... and possibly be hurt or killed.

I wonder what Jesus would tell me to do . . .

He didn't lead any revolutions against the Romans yet he was for righting wrongs.  And we Americans surely pride ourselves for rebelling against the British when they were heavy-handed.

Hmm, decisions, decisions.

Is Fatalism Catchy?

"Egyptians undergo an odd personality change behind the wheel of a car."


Insert paragraphs where the author describes a taxi ride through Cairo and out to visit the Pyramids.  He also mentioned how Egyptians are fond of driving at night without headlights then...

"Not surprisingly, Egyptian drivers are the most homicidal in the world, killing themselves and others at a rate twenty-five times that of drivers in America (and without the aid of alcohol). Motorists in other Arab countries are almost as driving-impaired. The only insight I ever gained into this suicidal abandon came from a speeding Kurdish driver, after he'd recklessly run over a bird.

'Allah wanted it dead,' he said. The same fatalism applies to passengers."   (pg.82)


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"Modern Egypt inherited many things from the pharaohs -- regal good looks, papyrus, bureaucracy -- but a talent for building isn't among them. Egyptians have the opposite of a Midas touch; everything they set their hands on turns to dust.  Even spanking-new skyscrapers seem, after a year or two, fragile and filthy lean-tos.  It isn't just a question of money or expertise; fatigue and fatalism have so corroded the culture that Egyptians have simply stopped caring.  Buildings collapse for lack of basic maintenance. Sewer lines explode, flooding whole neighborhoods. Dead horses lie rotting on the beach at Alexandria. And Egyptians muddle on, as they have for millennia, muttering malesh - never mind - and gazing toward Mecca in prayer."  (pg. 85)


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Tony and his wife, Geraldine Brooks who wrote Nine Parts of Desire (which I read and posted about here), received a report from the supervisor of their building. Although it was one of the nicest in the area, it had some fairly major problems. Yet ...

"None of this was news to us, except the fact that the building had a supervisor at all. Still, that someone had bothered to catalogue the building's woes was in itself remarkable.The response was not. Nothing happened.  What was worse, I found myself not caring.  The water main burst?  Malesh, I'll shower with bottled water. There are eleven tenants trapped in the elevator again? Malesh, I'll walk the twenty floors.  The mail's been tossed in a forgotten storeroom filled with dust and spiders? Malesh, I doubt there was anything important. And I'd been in Cairo only a few months. In another year, I feared, Egyptian inertia would so overwhelm me that I'd be clambering over mummified residents as I scrambled through the unlit stairwell."  (pg. 86)


So is fatalism catchy?  Do you tend towards being fatalistic? Is it healthy and good or something we should avoid?  Just this evening I was telling a friend that too many people I know come across as afraid of the unknown. OK, I was talking about Islam, about Muslims.  We just don't have many in my area and sometimes the impression I get is that we should be suspicious of "those people" because they are following that religion that wants to take over America and make us believe like they do.  But I was telling Friend that I want to not be fearful. Jesus told us not to be afraid.  I want to boldly love people and reach out to them and not fear them doing something to me. Basically I want to just love and leave the results of that to God.  Is this fatalism? 

Any thoughts on Tony's observations re: Egypt?



Notes from Baghdad Without a Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia by Tony Horwitz; please note this book was published twenty years ago (1991) so Egypt may have changed a wee bit since the author noted his own experiences there

Keep Islam Healthy and Strong

Last week when I went to the library I got 8 books and one of them was Inside Islam which is a collection of essays by more than a dozen people - Muslims and nonMuslims - discussing "the faith, the people, and the conflicts of the world's fastest-growing religion."  While the book was published in 2002 some of the chapters are from earlier works because one author mentions the Soviet Union if that tells you anything!  I especially enjoyed the chapter about Islam in Afghanistan. I am not sure why, but I find myself fascinated over and over again by this country and the variety of souls living there.

"The Conflicts" section has excerpts from a Karen Armstrong book and a Bernard Lewis article. I found both of these rather fascinating as Armstrong discussed Muslims and the West and Lewis, The Roots of Muslim Rage.  It's like by reading their words I can see my people, my culture, my faith through Muslims' eyes.  Of course Armstrong and Lewis aren't Muslims so I'm not positive that they have accurately represented the situation, but I like to think these historians know of what they write. Several things were interesting, but for now I wanted to share this.  Read them and let me know your initial reaction to these words. Do you agree? Disagree?  See any contradictions or things that may be problematic? 

First this:

"It is better for the West that Muslims should be religious," Qaradawi argues, "hold to their religion, and try to be moral."  He raises an important point.  Many Western people are also becoming uncomfortable about the absence of spirituality in their lives. They do not necessarily want to return to premodern religious lifestyles or to conventionally institutional faith. But there is a growing appreciation that, at its best, religion has helped human beings to cultivate decent values. Islam kept the notions of social justice, equality, tolerance, and practical compassion in the forefront of the Muslim conscience for centuries. Muslims did not always live up to these ideals and frequently found difficulty in incarnating them in their social and political institutions.  But the struggle to achieve this was for centuries the mainspring of Islamic spirituality.  Western people must become aware that it is in their interests too that Islam remains healthy and strong. The West has not been wholly responsible for the extreme forms of Islam, which have cultivated a violence that violates the most sacred canons of religion. But the West has certainly contributed to this development and, to assuage the fear and despair that lie at the root of all fundamentalist vision, should cultivate a more accurate appreciation of Islam in the third Christian millennium.   (pg. 190, Karen Armstrong)

And then this:

There is something in the religious culture of Islam which inspired, in even the humblest peasant or peddler, a dignity and a courtesy toward others never exceeded and rarely equalled in other civilizations. And yet, in moments of upheaval and disruption, when the deeper passions are stirred, this dignity and courtesy toward others can give way to an explosive mixture of rage and hatred which impels even the government of an ancient and civilized country -- even the spokesman of a great spiritual and ethical religion -- to espouse kidnapping and assassination, and try to find, in the life of their Prophet, approval and indeed precedent for such actions.  (pg. 208, Bernard Lewis)

The Karen Armstrong bit I understood to the degree that ideally religions make us do right.  They inspire us to live moral lives, to be compassionate, to help the weak, to be kind and all that.  However, I think many people in the United States do not want Islam to be "healthy and strong."  This is why you often hear a "whew!" sigh of relief when you find a liberal Muslim as opposed to a conservative one.  Whereas we may be fine being conservative in our own faith, we certainly don't want Muslims to be the same.  This is because we often feel taking Islam seriously and literally means they hate us and try to take over the world imposing their ideas and way of life upon us.  Is this messed up?  Is this too much stereotyping and taking what television shows and movies have shown us "true Islam" is and, therefore, it's making us fearful? Ohhhhh, real Muslims shout "Allahu akbar!" and then blow things up!  So says the media quite often.

What do you think about the West being responsible somewhat for the development of fundamentalism?  In what ways can you see this being true?  How can Westerners "cultivate a more accurate appreciation of Islam"?

What most stuck out to you from this post?  Anything you want to address? Please feel free to share your thoughts!

"Do you support the Islamic jihad...and sharia law?"

Last week in this post I told you that I may share some parts of conversations that I have on Facebook from time to time.  The latest discussion happened due to a link I posted related to the Egyptian revolution.  I think I told you or you know from personal experience or reading online that some Americans are less-than-thrilled. What if it's another Iran? What if the radical Muslims take control? Ack, have you heard of the Muslim Brotherhood? What about precious, darling Israel in the midst of all those hateful Arabs who want to wipe it off the map? What about oil? What about our interests in the region? Mubarak was our ally! How dare the people get rid of the guy we were supporting all these years! When we want to get rid of an Arab dictator, we'll do it on our own terms, at our own expense (i.e., Iraq).




Fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear.



*ahem*



I say we either drop the "we love democracy everywhere in the world" spiel or we back it up by encouraging people who are trying to dispose of autocrats who have histories of rigged elections and oppression against their own people! This playing both sides is hypocritical and - really - who are we fooling?  It just makes us look even more idiotic to the rest of the world!  (To which some Americans will say they don't care and that's fine, but some of us care when America equals Christian nation to a lot of people.  Do we want Christ to be dragged into it because we are poor examples of him?  All righty then.)

So anyway, I ended up chatting off and on for a few days with someone whom I will call E to protect his identity. 

Eventually the conversation got to this with E asking,

"Susanne, do you support the islamic jihad?"

My reply:

Nope, not a fan of the extremists' version of jihad which most Muslims do not agree with either. Jihad (which means struggle) for most Muslims is first an inner struggle to do what is right in order to please God (e.g. the five prayers, fasting, almsgiving, dressing modestly). Similar to our "good fight of faith." This is the greater jihad.

The lesser jihad is defensive wars or wars against oppressors. For example fighting against occupying Americans who invaded and killed is legitimate. (If someone invaded America, you'd feel this 'jihad' was legit too.)

 

The extremists' version of jihad is the one even most Muslims despise. The extremists wrongly think they can fight *anyone* who does not agree with their version of Islam which is vile, hateful and which I too will reject with everything in me.

Good question! Now you know how I feel about jihad. :) Any others?

So he asked:


"Do you support sharia law?"

My reply:

Nope. If you have a Muslim-only country and want sharia (which they believe is God's law kind of like the Children of Israel thought of the Mosaic Law), then fine. But it's not for me since, well, I don't believe it's from God or else I'd be a Muslim. And really a number of Muslims don't want all aspects of sharia enforced because whose interpretation of sharia do they use? The conservatives, the moderates or the progressives? It's kind of like applying God's laws to the US and how the variety of opinions within Christianity would make that a nightmare for many.

Feel free to share your own thoughts. Maybe you think I am simplistic and plain old wrong in my thoughts. So tell me.  Shape and/or change my views.  Tell me why I should believe differently.

E also asked something that lead me to share my thoughts on Israel. I'll do that in another post as it may take more explaining. Plus it was a longer reply.

Thoughts?

Stepping out of my box and changing my mind

So the other day I mentioned posting things on Facebook that may come across surprising to some who knew me growing up.  With few exceptions, the ones who've actually engaged in conversation were never close friends. They are merely people who went to the same school and knew who I was, but not really that much about me.  In reality my beliefs were probably more in line with theirs back then. My thoughts on certain topics have changed mostly within the last couple of years as I've talked to people outside of my southern, Baptist, conservative box. The internet is a great place for meeting people, what can I say?  And I did a lot of reading on certain topics also.  I don't change my mind that easily! 

I've decided I want to share bits and pieces of some conversations (my answers to questions) basically so if I'm ever asked again, I can find the topic on my blog and copy and paste it. Ha, ha! No, not really. Actually it will be good for me to put it out here to review from time to time.  Who knows? With more information on these topics, I may very well change my mind in another direction.  While I definitely believe there are absolutes of which we should never waver, I also realize many topics are not cut and dry. They are not so black and white as many would have us believe.  I was asked on a thread -- where I seemed to be cheering on the Egyptian revolution too much for some -- my thoughts of Israel, Islamic jihad and sharia. Other threads have pondered the Muslim Brotherhood. How these four things deal with the Egyptian uprising is clear to me knowing how many here (not all of America perhaps, but here here...like here among the Glenn Beck watchers) think and where they are coming from.

I want to say that I do understand them. I do understand where they are coming from because for many years I probably could (and would) have asked some of the same questions and feared some of the same things. And maybe I am naive and silly for having changed my mind.  I guess time will tell. 

In the meantime, I'm happy for the Egyptians and I pray that they will be able to transition to government made up of leaders who will represent them well and value human rights and freedom for all, even the country's minority groups.  I watched an 11 minute video that aired on 60 Minutes. If you are able to view it, I'm sure you will enjoy seeing Wael Ghonim as he talks of the revolution in his country. I don't know a lot about him, but he seems like a very honorable man from the little I've seen and read about him.

Here's the link.

If you have any topics you want me to address, please let me know. For now I'll plan on discussing my thoughts on Israel, Islamic jihad and sharia since I was asked about them just last week.

By the way, Happy Valentine's Day! 

Taboos, Superstitions, The Evil Eye: "To Dismiss or Not to Dismiss?" - That is the Question!

"Step on a crack and break your momma's back."

How many of us chanted this little jingle growing up as we deliberately stepped so as to not touch any parts of our feet on the offending cracks in sidewalks?  

Admit it...you did this too, right?

My friends and I would do it for fun, for a few minutes, and then it was back to normal walking and who really cares if we stepped on or over cracks in the sidewalk because we did not believe the ways we stepped would affect our mothers' backs in any way.

Not that this book, African Notebook, is huge or anything, but the author, Albert Schweitzer, devoted a full chapter to Taboos and Magic.  As I was reading it last night, thoughts of American Bedu's recent post concerning "Does the Evil Eye Really Exist" came to mind. I know Saudi Arabia is very cultural and sometimes the culture gets mixed up with the national religion and people fault Islam for things that are not in Islam.  They are simply cultural traditions predating Muhammad's religion.  Evil eye talk exists in even predominantly Catholic Latin American countries from what I understand.

And we all know of superstitions such as the bad luck that follows breaking a mirror, spilling salt, seeing a black cat, walking under a ladder or the number 13.  By contrast a rabbit's foot and four leaf clovers are supposed to bring good luck.


You may recall from the Old Testament that the Israelites used the Ark of the Covenant as somewhat of a good luck charm believing if they took it into battle, they were assured of victory over their foes.

How much stock do you put into such things?  Are they nonsensical or do they have some supernatural value that people who only believe what they see should note? Is there some element of the supernatural out there that we should take seriously?

In this book, Schweitzer notes how strongly taboos influenced the people of (now) Gabon, Africa.  Some were more general: men whose wives were pregnant could not drive nails, eat meat that had begun to smell (despite most of the times their eating meat that was "already almost putrid"), touch a chameleon, step over a procession of driver ants, fill a hole with dirt and have anything to do with a corpse.  

Some taboos were very specific and "at the birth of a child the special taboos affecting it as an individual [were] usually disclosed by the father."  When the child was old enough to learn to count to five, he was taught his particular taboos.  For one woman it was that she never sweep with a broom. Thus she always used her hands for this task. For a young man, it was that he never be hit on his right shoulder.  Yet another was prohibited from eating plantains or even from the same pot where plantains were cooked immediately before. (When he accidentally ate fish that had plantain remains in the pot, he immediately got a cramp and died after a few hours!)

Can you imagine having to sweep with your hands due to a taboo?

When people died, the villagers often looked for reasons. Instead of attributing death to natural causes, they were quick to consult a witchdoctor who would inform them of the person who had practiced magic or called down a curse on the one who died.  In one sad recollection, a French-American observer, du Chaillu, watched with horror and helplessness as the village gathered round and executed quick "justice" over three women who supposedly had caused a young man's untimely death.  One of the victims' brothers was forced to participate in this beheading and hacking up of the bodies and throwing them into the river to avoid suspicion.  It was not allowed to show sympathy for those accused...even if you knew they were innocent and the one being killed was a close family member!   This distraught young man "compelled not only to join in witnessing the murder of his sister, but to shout with the mob in the chorus of rage, [was full of] frightful suffering.  [du Chaillu] endeavored to comfort him. He spoke to him of God, Who loathes all cruelty.  'Oh, Chally,' said the poor African, 'when you go back to your country, tell the people there to send people to teach us poor ignorant beings the words that come from the mouth of God.'"  (pg. 77)

Apparently some of the natives did believe God freed them from these taboos.  I especially enjoyed this recollection:

Nyingone's taboo was that she "must never see her reflection either in glass or metal or water."  This was especially hard when trying to cross streams by tree trunks because when she happened to see her reflection in the water, she fainted, fell in the water and nearly drowned.  (She'd been rescued from drowning several times.)

In despair over what she had already suffered from this taboo, she came to Monsieur Lavignotte.  "This taboo," she said, "is a dreadful force. I can't help being afraid of it.  But I know too that God, Whom you know and preach, is stronger than Satan, in whom we have hitherto believed.  So with your help I hope to get rid of my taboo.  When you have prayed with me, I shall fearlessly turn round the mirror I hold in my hand and look at myself in it." 

After the prayer, she had courage to do as she had said.  She looked in the glass for a long time glowing with happiness because nothing happened.  When at last she raised her eyes, she said to Monsieur Lavignotte, "And to think I never knew how beautiful I am ...'"  (pg.62)

The truth will set you free!

Maybe I'm wrong, but I tend to believe that Jesus would have appreciated the faith it took for this lady to overcome this strong cultural superstition.


Twins were often considered halves of the same whole.  If they were allowed to live, mothers had to treat them exactly the same, give them the exact same amount of food, dress them alike and even twins were forced to marry at the same time.  Often when one twin died, the other hid because tradition held that the other half (since s/he was not a whole person) needed to die as well.


What do you think concerning this post?   Do you take evil eyes, superstitions, taboos, magic seriously? Why or why not?  Do you believe your holy book supports your position or is it more cultural for you?  Did any of the stories above interest you?  Does the story about the young man dying after eating out of a pot with plantains prove to you that some spiritual force is behind these taboos?  What did you think of Nyingone's declaration that God is stronger than Satan when she wanted to be free of her taboo? Other thoughts or impressions?

Want to read more tidbits from this book?  Check out this post with more interesting cultural observations from African Notebook.

Matthew 20:1-16 -- The "Unfairness" of God

"It's not fair!"

"Life is just not fair!"

Have you ever heard these words before?  Maybe if you are like me, you've heard them come from your own mouth a time or two. Or maybe you've heard this from your child and had to give him or her the ol' "you're right so get over it" speech (or a variation of it) that I heard from my mom.

I can't explain or really understand why some people have good lots in life while others struggle merely to survive. Why some have the touch that makes most everything turn to gold while still others seem to be born losers. Why was I born in a country at a time where I don't have to struggle for my rights to vote, have a career or the freedom to express myself even if I'm critical of my own government and leaders?  I live in a nation where I can worship God freely, in a church and read my Bible without having to look over my shoulder to see if the police are coming to take it away because they hate what I believe God is saying to me.

I've read stories out of China where people in rural areas hide their Bibles because authorities there want to confiscate and burn these illegal books and imprison those who have them!  I can't imagine such an existence because I've always had freedom.  Likely I've even taken this freedom for granted wrongly believing it's the way most people in the world live.

Then I hear from my friends in Syria who can't legally access certain websites like Facebook, Blogger (this blog!!), YouTube and Amazon because that country wants to control its people or something!

Back to fairness, I was reading this passage in Matthew 20 and wanted to ask to whom you could most relate in these verses and what your thoughts were on this parable that Jesus told concerning what the kingdom of heaven is like.

¹ “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ² He agreed to pay them a denarius [the usual daily wage for a day laborer] for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

   ³ “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ⁴ He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ ⁵ So they went.

   “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. ⁶ About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

   ⁷ “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

   “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

   ⁸ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

   ⁹ “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. ¹⁰ So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ¹² ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

   ¹³ “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. ¹⁵ Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

   ¹⁶ “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Did you find yourself identifying with the workers who had been slaving away in the hot sun all day thinking they should have received more than those who had only worked one hour?  "It's not fair! We worked all day and these guys only worked an hour and you are paying them the same!"  Or were you OK with being paid the exact same since you agreed upon the usual daily wage and that is what your employee paid? It wasn't as if he broke his promise, right?  

Who will admit to being envious because the employee was generous and paid those who worked only 1 hour the same as those working 8 or 10 or 12?  Don't you think the employee was unfair for having paid everyone the same when some worked much harder and longer than others?

How does this parable relate to the kingdom of heaven since this is what Jesus said the whole point of it was?  And what does "so the last will be first, and the first will be last" mean? 

What lessons can we learn from this parable?  What "lessons" do you think the Chinese person who has to hide his faith might know from his situation that I might not know as one who has taken these freedoms for granted?  Do you see how in some ways he may have the advantage?  I daresay it makes a stronger believer if one realizes confiscation of property, torture and imprisonment are at stake for faith in Jesus Christ as opposed to one like me who believes in a nation that is favorable to Jesus.  Adversity tends to make stronger - more dedicated - believers. I admire my brothers and sisters in Christ who have faith in spite of opposition and unfairness.

Do you agree with how I titled this post? Do you believe this parable demonstrates the "unfairness" of God?  Do you agree that His "unfairness" can be a good thing? If you don't like the title, how would you rephrase it?


Thoughts on any of this?

Why I struggle with Christianity

Every once in a while I come across someone with the moronic notion that we should just nuke Iraq or Afghanistan to get rid of the terror trouble once and for all. As if such a horrible and extreme action which would kill millions of innocent men, women and children would rid the world of terrorists.  (People, look in the mirror!)

What's even more disturbing is how a few (OK, it's just been two people, but two too many in my opinion) will use the example of the Old Testament (OT) and insist "those people" were supposed to have been gotten rid of thousands of years ago anyway.

Huh?

Somehow they have ignorantly and wrongly put all of that area of the world into God's directive to Joshua and the Israelites to take the land of Canaan that He had given them.  (Afghanistan and Iraq are parts of ancient Palestine?) So there are a few problems with that OT justification. First, that was thousands of years ago.  Second, if God told the Israelites to do this and they failed to cleanse the land of the wicked Canaanites, that doesn't mean we finish that task all these years later.  That I recall, God never told the United States to clean up any 'leftovers' that the directly-ruled-by-God Children of Israel failed to do.

Most importantly to me: if you consider yourself a follower of Jesus Christ you have to look to HIM as your example not Joshua or Moses or David.  Jesus came along and said you have heard it said "eye for an eye," but he changed things around.  We are supposed to go the extra mile, offer our other cheek, forgive and even *gasp* love our enemies!  So why in the world do I see people who claim to love Jesus say such evil things about those they perceive as their enemies? Is there any wonder people don't take Christianity seriously when our history is full of fighting, killing and doing damage in the name of the Lord?  Is this not taking God's name in vain by using God as your justification for perpetuating evil?

It's such a shame and crime that people look at the history of Christianity and scoff, but I can hardly blame them!  It's disheartening to see people who claim to follow Christ commit such heinous crimes against each other! Why are we not known for how loving, caring, serving and honorable we are?  Why instead are we known for what we are against, how we hate and fight and kill?

This is why I reject the religion of Christianity and oftentimes want to distance myself from the majority who claim to be Christians. If you are truly a follower of Christ, act like him!  Don't act like any ol' person in history who goes after his enemies. Do the weird thing and love and serve others like Christ did!  Put your own needs behind you and put another in the place of honor.

Why are people prone to use 'just war' as their guide and not this?

Do you think this is why Jesus said many will say until him "Lord, Lord, I did all these things in your name" and he will declare "sorry, I never knew you"? Relationship is key!  You can call yourself Christian all day, but if you don't know Jesus, you won't act like him. Instead you will act like your human nature wants you to act and the world will keep on mocking at how there is no difference, Christianity is unrealistic because look at the Christians...do you see them loving their enemies and serving others like the Christ did?

And for those who want to "nuke 'em all" under the justification that they shouldn't be around anyway because God commanded the Israelites to kill ALL inhabitants in the land yet the Israelites failed to complete their mission, don't forget Jesus never reiterated that call. In fact he deliberately went into areas of Palestine and ministered among those people. He didn't tell us to finish off what Joshua and David failed to do.

We are not better than Jesus. If you claim to know Christ, act like it by doing what he did. Start praying for your enemy instead of allowing the anger and hatred to take over.

Don't you want Jesus to one day say that he knew you?  Then get to know him and act like he would act. "Nuke 'em all" should never come out of our mouths if we are following Jesus. 

"Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord.  On the contrary: 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.'  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:19-21)

Thoughts?

Meeting Young People In Iran...Comparisons to Syria

We visited the tourist sights, but also mingled with the locals.

Besides the coexistence book I've been reading and posting notes on lately, I started reading another library book Children of Jihad this weekend.  It describes the journey of a Jewish American graduate student as he travels throughout parts of the Middle East and gets to know some of the youth.  He spends the first 4 chapters recounting his few weeks in Iran in 2004. Iran is often in the news, but I don't know that much about its people except what is shared in the media. I found his story an exciting way to learn more about the average person on the street.

Jared Cohen was a student at Oxford when he applied over and over and over again for a visa to Iran.  He was rejected many times, but eventually his persistence paid off.  He tells how he was met by a "tour guide" at the airport.  When I told my Syrian friend about this, he immediately said, "uh huh...someone from their intelligence" which was right! Jared, by the way, is someone Samer told me about when the Iranians had their elections last year and there were many protesting in the streets. Twitter was planning to shut down due to site maintenance, but Jared urged its founder to wait as this was one of the only way dissidents were able to have their voices heard outside Iran.  I knew his face on the book jacket looked familiar...thanks to Samer, now I know why! Also he was only 24 when he was hired by the US State Department and he worked under both Condoleeza Rice and Hillary Clinton there.

Anyway back to Iran.  As I was reading these 100 pages, I was struck many times with how similar it was to Syria. Not everything of course, but a number of things including the words "police state" and "regime."  While regime technically is just the government who happens to be in power, it always has a darker sound to it when I read it.  Like it's a bad thing instead of neutral.  Partway through reading I decided to jot down a few notes on how Iran as described in this book is similar and different than the Syria that I know.   "That I know" being the qualifying words since I really know very little of what truly goes on there. 

But from my own experiences and listening to others who have lived there or visited, here goes:

LIKE SYRIA
Iran is part of the 'axis of evil' according to former President Bush. In fact when we were in Damascus, Samer's twin made us laugh when he said with a touch of dry humor, "Next you will have to visit Iran and North Korea so you can visit all the Axis of Evil." 

Iran has a police state and a culture of fear is present.

Iran blocks websites in its attempts to control what its people are able to read.  Jared said mostly they tried to block blogs and places where dissenters congregate, but he said "progressive" Dubai does a much better job of restricting websites.

The Iranian youth are glad to see Americans as there are few from the United States who travel there. I recall people being happy that Andrew and I were in Syria and they told us the same thing: we don't see many Americans here.

We met Ahmed from Gaza while visiting the Umayyad Mosque,
and he spent the next few hours tagging along with us.

Iranians hate the American government, but love American movies, culture and people.

Most people were very kind and treated Jared with warm hospitality.  I can never say enough about how wonderful the Syrians we met were.

Iranian youth want to get out of Iran due to lack of jobs. This perpetuates the "brain drain."  I've noticed the same about most Syrian young people who are frustrated because there are few opportunities in Syria.


UNLIKE SYRIA
Iran has a religious regime whereas Syria's is more secular.

Andrew and Susanne in the Umayyad Mosque

Iran has a serious drug problem and the youth have bootleg liquor at their illegal parties.  Alcohol is not forbidden in Syria.  Jared mentioned most parties aren't necessarily for entertainment, but a forum for expression and a form of resistance against an oppressive regime.

Iran has morality police to ensure good Islamic behavior.  I never noticed similar police in Syria.

Jared was treated poorly by government officials and intelligence officers who wanted to restrict him to only seeing tourist attractions instead of mingling with the people.  In Syria we never had problems with the government and the only people we visited (apart from the few westerners we met at the hostel) were locals.


JUST SOME FACTS
Jared mentioned that cell phones were used to set up dates and social networking websites were a way young people got to know members of the opposite sex. He stated that satellite dishes were the biggest anti-propaganda tools and while they were illegal, they were smuggled into the country and sold on the black market. Even in poor regions, people would pool their resources to buy a dish for a cluster of apartments. He said some Iranian youth watch Voice of America for hours a day to perfect their English.

One area where Iranian youth agreed with the regime was Iran's nuclear program as it was attached to national pride.  The Iranian young people saw it as a source of technological achievement and progress and wanted their country to be among the elite countries in the world who already had nuclear weapons.  When Jared mentioned acquiring nuclear weapons as a possible way for the regime to hold onto its power, the young people he talked to said they would gladly give up the nuclear power for a true change in the ruling establishment.

One part that made me laugh was when Jared met an Iranian woman, Mariam, who along with her friends asked Jared about America and Americans' impressions of Iranians. Then he said she wanted an explanation about toilet paper's merits (which she thought there were none as it was dirty) over the use of water.  Jared really didn't know how to respond finally leaving her with the assurance that we try to shower as much as possible. 

When speaking about a reformist president who disappointed the Iranian youth several years back, Jared was told all he did was allow the girls to wear nail polish and raise the marrying age from 9 to 13.  She retorted that girls were already wearing nail polish and no one wanted to get married that young anyway! 

When asked what three things she wanted people in American to know about Iranian youth, she said 1. We are not Arabs, but Iranians  2.We are not terrorists  3. We do the same things young people do all around the world.

As much as the youth tended to hate their regime and wanted change, they in no way wanted America's assistance and said the minute an American soldier came to their soil, America became their enemy.  They realized regime change ultimately had to come from within.



Since I mentioned Syria in this post I decided to include a few pictures from our trip there.   I love that place. :)

Craving Fear, Preserving Identity, Walking with God, Using Water

Living in the desert and climbing mountains gave Bruce Feiler much time for reflection. In Walking the Bible, he begins speaking of fear he's encountered throughout his life: losing control, disappointing himself, failing. Then he notes, "when your god is self-reliance, and you let yourself down, there is nowhere else to turn."   He went on to say that the desert's first lesson is this:  "By feeling uneasy and unsure, by fearing that you're out of your depth and therefore might falter, by feeling small, and alone, you begin -- slowly, reluctantly, maybe even for the first time in your life -- to consider turning somewhere else," to someone or something. He notes that you "eventually grow weary of the flat and easy, the commonplace and self-reliant. You begin to crave the depth, the height, the extremes.  You begin even to crave the fear."  (pg. 224)

From a talk with Israel Hershkovitz, a professor of anatomy and anthropology at Tel Aviv University who now studies ancient skeletons:

"'We know now that genes have the ability to store ancestral memories.  And these can survive for hundreds of years. The Jewish people, for example, are very stubborn.  To keep up with their religion for all those years in exile, first in Babylon, then in the diaspora, reminds me of a very special people: the bedouin.  You give up a lot, you live in marginal areas, you don't enjoy all the benefits of life.  But you preserve your identity.'"  (pg. 410)

In remembering the struggle of Jacob with the messenger of God in the valley of Jabbok, Bruce reminds us of Jacob's scarring when the messenger touches Jacob's hip and dislocates it.  He writes, "The scar, significantly, does not end up on Jacob's hand, nor on his head, his heart, or his eyes. Humans experience God, the text seems to be saying, not by touching him, imagining him, feeling him, or seeing him.  Jacob is scarred on his leg, for the essential way humans experience God, the text suggests, is by walking with him."  (pg. 422)


The author tells some of the history of Jordan and includes this interesting statistic about water while talking about this country being desert-rich.

"The country's per capita consumption of water is 200 cubic meters a year, compared to 1,800 in Syria, 7,700 as the world's average, and 110,000 in the United States.  That means the average American uses 550 times more water a year than the average Jordanian."  (pg. 353)

And finally I think I posted all my notes from this book!  

Matthew 14 -- John's Death, Feeding the Crowd, Walking on Water

Matthew 14  begins with an account of John the Baptist's death.  John was bold enough to speak out about Herod's (the ruler) unlawful union with his brother's exwife and got put into prison because of this.  Herod did not have John killed since the people thought John was a prophet.  However when Herodias' (the ruler's wife) daughter danced at Herod's birthday party and pleased him so much, he declared that he would give her anything she desired! Her mom instructed her to ask for John the Baptist's head so thus ended the prophet's life.

Jesus heard of John's death and "withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place."  Yet the crowds followed on foot and when Jesus landed they were waiting.  And Jesus didn't say, "Go away, please!  My friend just died and I need to grieve alone for a while."  Nope.

¹⁴When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

When the disciples noticed it was getting late, they suggested Jesus send them away to buy food in the village.  Jesus told his disciples that the people need not leave, but for them to feed the group.

Did I mention there were about five thousand men along with women and children?

 ¹⁷"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.

No problem.  Jesus had been healing the sick already.  What's the big deal about feeding a group of thousands from so meager a supply?

 ¹⁸"Bring them here to me," he said. ¹⁹And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. ²⁰They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

 After this Jesus sent the disciples away on the boat while he went alone to pray on a mountainside.  If Jesus needed to pray, this should tell us how important our own prayers are.  I guess this begs the question for those of us who believe Jesus is God...ummm, why does Jesus need to pray to himself? 

My Quest Study Bible offers this answer:

Jesus himself is God, but he is not the Father or the Holy Spirit.  Because he lived in constant communication with the heavenly Father, Jesus' consistent prayer life provided a living example for his disciples and enabled him to identify with our humanity (Heb. 4:14). He demonstrated what it means to live in complete harmony with the Father's will and to pray continually (I Thess. 5:17).

Remember the disciples had gone on ahead so Jesus wanted to catch up to the boat. 

No problem. He just started walking on the lake.

The disciples were frightened thinking they were seeing a ghost! 

Jesus assured them it was him and they didn't need to be afraid.

Peter wanted to walk on the water too.  Jesus said "Come."  Peter walked on the water and started towards Jesus. 

But then he got caught up in watching the wind stir up the sea, became scared and started sinking!


"Lord, save me!"

³¹Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

 ³²And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. ³³Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

 ³⁴When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. ³⁵And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him ³⁶and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.

Any questions or comments?

Attitude, High View of God, Learning & Questioning

I love people who have a good attitude about nearly everything. Whether they are going through wonderful times or dealing with annoying situations (such as car trouble or the phone company getting the bill all wrong) or going through times of heartache, they just seem able to take to heart Paul's instruction to give thanks in everything.   I get the impression Paul just had a high view of God and to him our earthly problems paled in comparison.  

I suppose this quote goes along with that:

"A low view of God is the cause of a hundred lesser evils.  A high view of God is the solution to ten thousand temporal problems."    -- A.W. Tozer

If only I could remember these problems are temporary. But don't they seem overwhelming when we are going through them? Don't they just gnaw at our souls and make us feel uneasy?

Recently I read Primal and author Mark Batterson told of this positive outlook on life.  I really liked it and wanted to make it my own.  Attitude greatly influences how we go through life, doesn't it?  We choose to allow hard times to make us bitter or unthankful or blue.  But can't we also choose a grateful attitude? One that guards against resentment, bitterness and even crippling sadness? 

Hey, you don't have to tell me that that's not so easy.  I am an emotional person.  Quite melancholic, in fact.  So I recognize the struggle with choosing the thankful, joyful outlook in life.  I don't get a flat tire on the car and start shouting hallelujah.  My family can attest to how irritated, bitter and sad I can get.  But why choose to live this way when I don't have to?  

I liked this.

If you approach every person, every challenge, every situation with humble curiosity, it transforms each of them into a learning opportunity.  The outcome is no longer seen as success or failure, good or bad, positive or negative. The only measuring stick is this:  what did you learn from it? ...  I'm less afraid of failing, because I know it's the best form of education.  I'm less focused on getting out of situations and more focused on what I can get out of those situations. I'm less concerned with what I'm experiencing and more concerned with what I'm learning. Everyone and everything becomes part of my education.  God redeems them and uses them to shape me into the person He wants me to become.  And the learning process never ends.  (pg. 107)

Mark also wrote this which reminded me of some of you, my lovely questioning-and-learning friends.   :)

"The New Testament Greek word translated as 'disciple' comes from a root that means 'learner.'  By definition, a disciple is someone who never stops learning.  A true disciple makes the most of the hundred billion brain cells God has put on loan to him. A true disciple loves more because she knows more.  A true disciple is consumed with holy curiosity that doesn't take yes for an answer. The disciple keeps asking and seeking and knocking. And the quest is never over because the questions never end."  (pg. 107)

What are you currently questioning, seeking to learn, learning?  What things do you question most? What subjects do you enjoy learning about the most?  Do you tend to have a "what can I learn from this?" attitude when facing hard times?  How important is attitude in facing challenges in life?  Do you agree that a high view of God should help us during hard times?  Do you let it or do you tend to forget how big He is because your problems loom large? Do you agree with Tozer about a low view of God causing hundreds of lesser evils?

And in case you've not noticed, I do, in fact, enjoy learning from you.  And asking questions is often how I do that.   :-)